There is usually a big connection between what’s on our head and what’s going on in our lives. Our hair often reflects our emotions, and drastic haircuts, particularly for women, are nothing new.
Several movies have also shown the emotional experiences of women who have gone through breakup and divorce and proceeded to hack off some or cut all of their hair. One can only wonder what was going on in Princess Charlene of Monaco’s head when she suddenly debuted a hairstyle last December with half-shaved head.
When a character cuts their locks in a film, it often signifies that a dramatic change is taking place, and as we’ve noticed with women in film, it’s usually empowering and liberating.
Several, of course, are taking their appearances into their own hands purely out of necessity. They’re conscious of showing up to Zoom meetings with white hair, dark roots, dry split ends and long hair out of shape.
Not just boredom
However, the urge to cut your hair and get a new look right now may not just be because of boredom. While no one has yet to study makeovers during a prolonged global pandemic, the desire to change your appearance might also be a need to change one thing about your life that you can change. Other changes, like cosmetic surgery, fitness and diet could be understood in similar ways.
I have to admit that I was one of many missing and “grieving” for the old life (BC: before coronavirus). So when I saw my hairstylist a few months ago after months in quarantine, I asked for a different cut. Today, my hair is at its shortest in a decade.
Cutting hair can be a way of getting rid of the literal and metaphorical weight off the hair, as maintaining long hair can require a great deal of products and time (and expense), and can mean cutting emotional baggage, too. For me, it was also about getting rid of the weight to have less hair fall, and I thought, if it doesn’t look good on me, who cares? I don’t see people anyway and my face is always covered with masks and face shields.
Going to the salon to get a new hairstyle is akin to a happy pill—just look at how women stride differently out the door—it’s a way of feeling better in times when one is feeling low. After all, what is a better way than to begin 2021 with literally cutting off of the old, starting anew and hoping for better times.
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